We were organic Dairy for a couple years but never got into a milk plant. If you are starting from scratch I think it's a great way to go. I personally would start small so you can manage your way into it.

Talk to a Organic certification agency to see what kind of contract you need on the land for rental. You'll also need documentation from the landlord providing that the previous three years were no chemical use and that it meets organic criteria.

Organic is a great way to go! But talk to the certification agency ask a lot of questions. Would you be selling milk to an organic place or are you trying to sell to the consumer Direct?

the farm I'm looking at has been organic up infill 2016 and the they quit 

Posted by: mcleanfarms

the farm I'm looking at has been organic up infill 2016 and the they quit 

So have they sprayed since?   Have to start all over if they did.

Can you give us some more info, state and general location?

If farm to table is strong I would look into what Gabe Brown has done.  Low inputs fairly high return without all the bs of organic.  Remember organic practices gave us the dust bowl. 

they quit dairy altogether roon  and I live in Maine and other than they sold there equipment thats all the info I got on the place  and I got google earth photo of the farm

roon makes a good point.  you can sell sustainable or green milk direct to consumer without going through the organic deal.  if you have a day job to support your life. get a few cows and a small pasteurizer and homogenizer and some bottles.  

we toured a farm in the late 80's that had 60 cows, some milk went to local milk plant.  most of the milk went to there own store on the farm.  they sold milk, cheeses, and ice cream.  in the time we were there the store always had a customer in it.  

if I was going back to dairy I would figure this out.  

Stensland Dairy in IA has a farm store/creamery.  Sell milk, ice cream and i think getting into cheese.  The do farm tours all summer.  A big thing that's their nitche is they pasturize at a lower temp for longer, they say the lower temp doesn't kill the good bacterias and it tastes more how milk is suppose to taste. Check em out.

http://www.stenslandfamilyfarms.com/

I have made entire plan of what I'm going to do is milk forty head raise the steers to a certain weight sell them and raise 90 percent of the feed for the herd

What breed of cattle? Before 1 animal set foot on the farm I would have buildings up, pastures fenced, hay and silage stock piled. Now when animals come you can start producing on day one! And then you are able to focus on creating quality animals not scrambling to build a farm around them.

jersey and some Holsteins 

• The Holstein steers to get them to finish you pretty much put them on a corn stuffer with some supplements. What work good for us was they got a bunk full of cracked high moisture corn and then the sweepings every morning from the dairy cows.
• I hope this works for you!

okay thanks

Are you going to bull breed or AI service?  If ai I would look into angus/limo on their second service.  It will add a lot of value to your calves.  Better demand if you sell as feeders/babies and overall better if you finish them yourself.

Be careful using big bulls on the cows we gave it up because we got sick of jacking out big calves also takes alot out of the cow her production drops if she has a bit stressful calving. In a few years I'm hoping all my cows calve on there own I'll only interfere if things are taking way too long 

Posted by: James o Brien

Be careful using big bulls on the cows we gave it up because we got sick of jacking out big calves also takes alot out of the cow her production drops if she has a bit stressful calving. In a few years I'm hoping all my cows calve on there own I'll only interfere if things are taking way too long 

Do you guys have calving ease ratings like we do here in US?